Facing and Rising Above Distractions

by | Sep 23, 2019 | Busyness, Christian, Distractions, drama, noise, Seeing Deep | 0 comments

1 š‘Ŗš’š’“š’Šš’š’•š’‰š’Šš’‚š’š’” 7:35 “š‘° š’‚š’Ž š’”š’‚š’šš’Šš’š’ˆ š’•š’‰š’Šš’” š’‡š’š’“ š’šš’š’–š’“ š’ƒš’†š’š’†š’‡š’Šš’•, š’š’š’• š’•š’ š’‘š’š’‚š’„š’† š’“š’†š’”š’•š’“š’Šš’„š’•š’Šš’š’š’” š’š’ š’šš’š’–. š‘° š’˜š’‚š’š’• š’šš’š’– š’•š’ š’…š’ š’˜š’‰š’‚š’•š’†š’—š’†š’“ š’˜š’Šš’š’ š’‰š’†š’š’‘ š’šš’š’– š’”š’†š’“š’—š’† š’•š’‰š’† š‘³š’š’“š’… š’ƒš’†š’”š’•, š’˜š’Šš’•š’‰ š’‚š’” š’‡š’†š’˜ š’…š’Šš’”š’•š’“š’‚š’„š’•š’Šš’š’š’” š’‚š’” š’‘š’š’”š’”š’Šš’ƒš’š’†.”
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You guys, I am so excited about what God is speaking to me to share in the new year. That He speaks to us and wants to use us to share His salvation with others never ceases to amaze me!
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But it got me to thinking . . . (a dangerous thing, I know). Already I see distractionsā€”some of them are good distractions even, and some of them not, that could stand in the way of doing this work that God has called me to. How about you?
Distractions. Little things in our lives that can keep us from big things. If we let them. We can rise above them if we recognize them. What distractions do you face that keep you from seeking God and living out His purpose for you?
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Let’s deal with some of these distractions and discern how to overcome them.
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It’s hard enough that we live in this culture that bombards us with messages all day long (guess I am also sharing messages – we all are), but we have to carefully choose which messages we are going to listen to.
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Which messages are speaking life to us and a part of God’s plan to grow us in Him?
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Making ourselves push pause before we get lost in social media first thing in the morning, we can be intentional about what we are going to do with our time.
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I have to practice self-awareness and check myself – what is my purpose for going on social media and how long am I intending to scroll through? Phew! This is hard! And we are creatures of habit.
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š‘¾š’† š’‰š’‚š’—š’† š’ˆš’š’• š’•š’ š’ˆš’†š’• š’‚ š’‰š’š’š’… š’š’‡ š’•š’‰š’Šš’” š’…š’Šš’”š’•š’“š’‚š’„š’•š’Šš’š’ š’š’‡ “š’š’š’Šš’”š’†” š’š’“ š’Šš’• š’˜š’Šš’š’ š’‰š’‚š’—š’† š’‚ š’‰š’š’š’… š’š’ š’–š’”! š‘ŗš’š’„š’Šš’‚š’ š’Žš’†š’…š’Šš’‚ š’‚š’š’… š’Šš’•š’” š’ˆš’‚š’…š’ˆš’†š’•š’“š’š š’‚š’“š’† š’‚š’…š’…š’Šš’„š’•š’Šš’š’ˆ!
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My son recently posted about how he deals with social media and it has changed his life to control social media rather than it controlling him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VtOqPKZWtY
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Ugh. Disappointments can really put us in a tailspin while we throw ourselves a pity party, right?
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It wasn’t supposed to be this way. We were supposed to work on our calling and have things turn out differently. Life is not like that. We will have to face disappointments, but they don’t have to distract us from the calling of God on our lives.
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š‘«š’Šš’”š’‚š’‘š’‘š’š’Šš’š’•š’Žš’†š’š’•š’” š’‚š’“š’† š’š’‡š’•š’†š’ š’‚ š’“š’†š’‚š’‘š’‘š’š’Šš’š’•š’Žš’†š’š’• š’‡š’“š’š’Ž š‘®š’š’….
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We just might have to pry our hands loose from the former appointment and trust God with the new one.
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Maybe it will make our calling or life harder and we regret that. But we can rise above disappointment when we know God is with us and in our situation. Maybe that disappointment will cause us to dive in deeper and to grow in a way that we would not have.
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I know – we would rather grow and flourish with everything being rosy and perfect. But that’s not life.
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I am talking about disappointments all month long on my Seeing Deep podcast: https://denisepass.com/sd35-dealing-with-disappointment-in-circumstances/. Disappointments in life, in relationships and this week and next week in parenting.
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Ooh, that can be so hard. We feel we “own” that appointment, not the disappointment.
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I am busier than I should be. I know this. And I am working on it. Pinky promise.
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š‘©š’–š’”š’šš’š’†š’”š’” š’„š’‚š’ š’Œš’†š’†š’‘ š’–š’” š’†š’š’”š’š’‚š’—š’†š’… š’š’“ š’Šš’• š’„š’‚š’ š’ƒš’† š’”š’š’Žš’†š’•š’‰š’Šš’š’ˆ š’•š’‰š’‚š’• š’Žš’‚š’Œš’†š’” š’–š’” š’—š’†š’“š’š š’‘š’“š’š’…š’–š’„š’•š’Šš’—š’†.
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I can be overwhelmed when I have a long list (like today), or I can make my list and focus on one thing at a time.
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Multi-tasking can be a blessing and its burden. I am known for being a serious multi-tasker but recently I have intentionally chosen to not do so. Sure, there are some tasks that I can do that with, but sometimes the work at hand requires all of us. That is how it is with me and writing. I need my full attention on the work at hand.
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We don’t have to be ruled by busy – we can rule it and put tasks in place. And when we are beyond capacity, we might need to prune. Or God will prune for us. What matters most is having our priorities in place – Jesus is our priority. Then family and all of our other priorities come, but we can determine how they fit. Truly we can.
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We rise above busyness by surrendering our plans to God regularly and asking for His grace to do what He has called us to. And we can choose not to let “hurry” rule us. When we just write down our desires and then don’t let the inability to get to it all defeat us, we can be grateful for what we got done and work our list the next day. It will still be there. Trust me.
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We’ve all got it. And sometimes we create it all on our own.
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š‘«š’“š’‚š’Žš’‚ š’‰š’‚š’‘š’‘š’†š’š’” š’˜š’‰š’†š’ š’˜š’† š’”š’†š’† š’š’Šš’‡š’† š’‡š’“š’š’Ž š’‚ š’‡š’š’†š’”š’‰š’š’š š’‘š’š’Šš’š’•-š’š’‡-š’—š’Šš’†š’˜.
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We rise above drama when we see things from God’s perspective. There is spiritual understanding to be had behind every new drama that crops up. Stepping back and seeking to understand the spiritual needs of those creating drama, we *might* be able to respond in the Spirit instead of the flesh.
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What other distractions do you face that keep you from seeking God and living out His purpose for you? Let’s search God’s word for answers to each and every distraction so we can rise above distractions and live for One!
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Here’s a quote from one of my favs – John MacArthur:
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“š‘»š’‰š’† š’Žš’š’“š’† š’šš’š’– š’‡š’š’„š’–š’” š’š’ š’šš’š’–š’“š’”š’†š’š’‡, š’•š’‰š’† š’Žš’š’“š’† š’…š’Šš’”š’•š’“š’‚š’„š’•š’†š’… š’šš’š’– š’˜š’Šš’š’ š’ƒš’† š’‡š’“š’š’Ž š’•š’‰š’† š’‘š’“š’š’‘š’†š’“ š’‘š’‚š’•š’‰. š‘»š’‰š’† š’Žš’š’“š’† š’šš’š’– š’Œš’š’š’˜ š‘Æš’Šš’Ž š’‚š’š’… š’„š’š’Žš’Žš’–š’š’† š’˜š’Šš’•š’‰ š‘Æš’Šš’Ž, š’•š’‰š’† š’Žš’š’“š’† š’•š’‰š’† š‘ŗš’‘š’Šš’“š’Šš’• š’˜š’Šš’š’ š’Žš’‚š’Œš’† š’šš’š’– š’š’Šš’Œš’† š‘Æš’Šš’Ž. š‘»š’‰š’† š’Žš’š’“š’† š’šš’š’– š’‚š’“š’† š’š’Šš’Œš’† š‘Æš’Šš’Ž, š’•š’‰š’† š’ƒš’†š’•š’•š’†š’“ š’šš’š’– š’˜š’Šš’š’ š’–š’š’…š’†š’“š’”š’•š’‚š’š’… š‘Æš’Šš’” š’–š’•š’•š’†š’“ š’”š’–š’‡š’‡š’Šš’„š’Šš’†š’š’„š’š š’‡š’š’“ š’‚š’š’ š’š’‡ š’š’Šš’‡š’†ā€™š’” š’…š’Šš’‡š’‡š’Šš’„š’–š’š’•š’Šš’†š’”. š‘Øš’š’… š’•š’‰š’‚š’• š’Šš’” š’•š’‰š’† š’š’š’š’š š’˜š’‚š’š š’•š’ š’Œš’š’š’˜ š’“š’†š’‚š’ š’”š’‚š’•š’Šš’”š’‡š’‚š’„š’•š’Šš’š’.ā€

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